Every year about this time, we’re all flooded with what we “should” do to honor mom on her special day, which happens to be this Sunday in case you missed the signs everywhere.
If you do end up being dragged to a crowded brunch, here’s some fun tidbits from the U.S. Census Bureau to pass the time waiting for a seat. Maybe you can even make a game of it.
- 82.8 million — Estimated number of mothers in the United States in 2004.
- 2.1 – Number of births per woman in the U.S. in 2007. Women in Utah lead the nation with 2.6 births per woman.
- 4.3 million — Number of births registered in the United States in 2007
- 25 — Average age of women in 2006 when they gave birth for the first time
- 18,674 — Number of births in 2006 that were the mother’s eighth or more.
- August — The month with the highest number of births, with 387,798 taking place that month in 2006.
- Wednesday — The most common day of the week to deliver, with an average of 13,482 births taking place on Wednesdays during 2006. This is the first time since at least 1990 that a day other than Tuesday had this distinction.
Mother’s Day is not a day I generally celebrate since it seems like yet another fake holiday created by the retail industry to guilt us into buying candy, cards, clothes, flowers and jewelry for mom to tell her once a year how much we appreciate all she does every other day of the year. (Of course, history tells us the driving force behind the day was Anna Jarvis, not the retail industry, who in 1914, convinced Congress to set aside the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day but that’s beside the point.)
My darling husband and three kids cave to the advertising and usually want to take me out for breakfast. It’s just not fun for me. The places are crowded and the lines are out the door no matter how early we go. Plus, my husband doesn’t like to wait more than 10 minutes for anything so his irritation adds an extra-pleasant tension to “my special day.”
This year I don’t want to go to breakfast or brunch. I don’t want a day jam-packed with activities and crowds. I just want quiet. No driving anyone anywhere. No cleaning or grocery shopping. No fighting kids. Let me read a book. Or an even crazier thought, let me take an afternoon nap.
That’s just me. What do other moms out there really want this Mother’s Day?
